Sonic Youth - Riot in Melbourne (Live) (2017)

SUPERB RADIO BRADCAST FROM AUSTRALIA 1989 Spawned from the burgeoning New York noise-rock movement of the early 1980s, the impulse for Sonic Youth s sound was necessity rather than aesthetics. As struggling artists working in an underground scene, the band could only afford cheap guitars, and subsequently used every method possible to mask evidence of their substandard instruments; alternate tunings, distortion, feedback and unusual playing techniques, such as hitting their strings with drum sticks, were all tactics employed by guitarists Thurston Moore and Lee Renaldo, and bass player Kim Gordon, in this endeavor. However it was this very playing style that contributed hugely to Sonic Youth becoming a hugely influential group whose success was even more startling once alternative music in the US gained momentum in the middle of the decade. Daydream Nation, the band s 1988 double album, remains their most critically acclaimed recording, and its lead single Teenage Riot became their first hit, reaching No. 20 on the charts and earning the group a major label record deal. In support of their new record, in September 88 Sonic Youth went out on tour and by early 89 had reached Australia. This recording is taken from a live FM radio broadcast recorded at the band s show at The Palace Theatre in Melbourne on 19th January 1989, and captures an act quickly reaching the peak of their creative powers. Featuring a set focusing on tracks from Daydream Nation, alongside some earlier material, this CD captures a group clearly enjoying their newly found success, but doing so without losing any of their original, challenging impetus.